


never shall i forget, how you climbed out of a dream

by siojo



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace Never Joins the WBPs, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Marco Joins the Spade Pirates, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Wano Arc (One Piece)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23823577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: “Kaido,” Ace smirks, flames burning around his feet as he shifts in preparation for Kaido’s next attack, already trying to decide what he’s going to do in response. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You’ve seemed to have been enjoying yourself here.”“I thought you would be smarter than this, Portgas. You’ve never tried to fight another Yonko before, your bounty won’t matter much when you lose.”Ace barks a laugh, his teeth bared in a facsimile of a grin, “You must have missed out on the brawl I had with Big Mom after she sent two of her daughters and a son for me to consider marrying. This is a bit more personal than that.”
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, O-Tama & Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 16
Kudos: 263





	never shall i forget, how you climbed out of a dream

**Author's Note:**

> Anon prompted: Ace becoming the new WB and O-Tama being his first daughter. 
> 
> It spiraled out of control, leading to a whole AU where Ace takes O-Tama in instead of leaving her on Wano and decides not to take on WB since he had just taken her in. He becomes a Yonko and eventually takes over WBPs territory after WB dies of natural causes just after Luffy punches a Celestial Dragon.

“Still clinging to your captain’s legacy,  _ Phoenix _ ?” Kaido laughs, voice carrying over the mountains, teeth bared in a mockery of a smile. “Wano hasn’t been Whitebeard’s territory in years.”

Ace hisses through his teeth, holding to the side of the mountain, one hand holding his hat securely on his head, Luffy balanced beside him, waiting for the signal to attack. Not that Luffy had wanted to wait, but Ace hadn’t spent years raising Luffy to forget the best way to bribe him into compliance, even now.

Marco’s talons gouge the earth, missing Kaido’s tail, and pulling his wings down hard to keep himself aloft and mobile enough to dodge the line of flame that shoots from Kaido’s mouth, “Who said anything about being here to defend Whitebeard’s former claim?”

“Everyone knows that you wouldn’t come here, not if it wasn’t for the sake of your captain.”

“I am here for my captain,” Marco agrees, talons capturing Kaido’s tail to hold him in place, digging into the small spaces between the scales to keep him from pulling free. Ace catches the signal before Luffy does, just a brief, pointed look in their direction before Marco adds. “Just not the one you think. Ace!”

Ace growls, baring his teeth as he uses his flames to launch himself up higher and faster than Luffy could copy with his own Devil’s Fruit, at least not as quickly as Ace did, twisting as he focuses his haki into his fist. The feeling of bones snapping under his knuckles is more satisfying than Ace thought it would be, as he slams his fist down on Kaido’s snout. He uses the rest of his momentum to throw himself away from Kaido before they hit the ground, waiting for his next move.

Kaido laughs, shrinking down to his human form, mouth bloody and eyes glowing with something dangerous as he pushes himself upright, “Portgas D Ace.”

“Kaido,” Ace smirks, flames burning around his feet as he shifts in preparation for Kaido’s next attack, already trying to decide what he’s going to do in response. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You’ve seemed to have been enjoying yourself here.”

“I thought you would be smarter than this, Portgas. You’ve never tried to fight another Yonko before, your bounty won’t matter much when you lose.”

Ace barks a laugh, his teeth bared in a facsimile of a grin, “You must have missed out on the brawl I had with Big Mom after she sent two of her daughters and a son for me to consider marrying. This is a bit more personal than that.”

“Did I kill someone you cared about?”

“My daughter is from Wano, you would have killed her if she had stayed,” Ace answers, twisting away from the attack Kaido launches at him. Ace’s flames, backed by his own haki, burn through Kaido’s arm with an ease that seems to startle even Kaido into stopping, giving Ace time to put more space between them, as Kaido stares at the stump of his arm.

“You’ve done more damage than most pirates could hope to, Portgas,” Kaido cackles, taking a menacing step forward.

“And I’m just the distraction,” Ace admits, smirking when Luffy’s fist crashes into Kaido’s stomach, throwing him backwards and through one of the buildings surrounding them. “I was wondering what was taking you so long.”

“Ace can fly!” Luffy shouts, holding onto his hat as Kaido roars, the force of it almost enough to blow them both off their feet. “Conqueror’s haki?”

“I do remember seeing reports that he has it,” Ace agrees, sighing tiredly, several of his newer crewmates falling under the onslaught of power. He rolls his shoulders back, grinning dangerously as he activates his own conqueror’s haki. “That’s fine, I do too.”

Luffy laughs and Ace can feel him activate his own, taking a steady step forward, because Kaido’s power is nowhere near enough to stop him. Not now, but he told his hand out to Luffy, waiting for his brother to take it before twisting, gaining momentum before launching Luffy at Kaido faster than Luffy could have gotten himself alone.

“Marco,” Ace shouts, turning to where Marco is lingering amongst the members of the alliance who’ve already been taken out of the fight. “Keep the field clear!”

“Yes, captain.”

Ace doesn’t bother to wait and see what he does, trusting Marco to do what he’s been asked, grabbing the stump of Kaido’s arm and slamming him into the ground. It gives Luffy a few minutes, enough time to pull himself out of the building he had been thrown into. He throws himself backward when Kaido tries to grab him, flipping up and over his head, dagger already in hand.

Luffy is back, fist slamming into Kaido’s face as Ace takes the opportunity to bury his dagger as deep as he can in Kaido’s side. He doesn’t bother trying to pull it free, not when Kaido’s kicking at him, sending Ace skidding back from the fight, his ribs throbbing.

Ace isn’t stupid enough to think he burned Kaido’s arm off thanks to his ability alone. It’s a combination of luck on Ace’s part and overconfidence on Kaido’s that let him do it, no matter how hot Ace’s realized he can burn. That doesn’t mean that Kaido can’t get lucky either. They’re lucky that it’s the two of them against Kaido, because even though it’s been years since he and Luffy had fought side by side, they know each other’s tells better than anyone else.

The fight is a blur of movement and pain, attacking and being hit until Ace’s giving Luffy a launch point to throw himself up into the air, Luffy’s foot slamming into Kaido’s face into the ground. Ace stumbles as Kaido lays there limp, seconds feeling far too long, before Saber is there, locking one side of a set of seastone cuffs to Kaido’s remaining wrist. He latches one side of a second set to the stump of Kaido’s arm, latching them together. It’s not enough to stop him, not if Kaido really wanted to attack them again, but it was better than nothing.

“I,” Ace gasps, falling onto his knees as his legs give out, not even stopping himself when he collapses face down, hearing Luffy do the same beside him. “I was expecting more of a fight then this.”

Luffy laughs breathlessly, “Me too.”

Everything hurts, even just laying there and taking care as he breathes, because Kaido’s second assault on his ribs had sounded like something had broken under his fist. Which is why Ace feels the cold press of Marco’s flames before he realizes he’s there.

“This is what you get, captain,” Marco says softly, turning Ace slowly onto his back, finally done patching up the more damaged members of their alliance. His hands are gentle as they check Ace’s ribs for breaks, his flames dancing over the most visible damage. “You’ve definitely broken at least one rib. But they seem to be reacting well to my flames.”

“Ribs ache,” Ace groans, hissing when Marco prods at one of the cuts on his side. “You’re being mean!”

Marco smirks, “I’ll kiss it better later.”

“You could kiss me better now.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Tama always makes that face when I kiss you in front of her.”

“Because dad kissing people is gross,” Tama shouts, stumbling to a stop beside them, her hands shaking, even as she tries to keep smiling. “Uncle Deuce said that I had to come and make sure that you weren’t dead.”

“I’m not dead,” Ace promises, groaning even as Tama carefully avoids the worst damage, burying her face against his neck. “Tama, keep your knees out of my ribs. Marco’s still fixing those.”

“You got launched into a mountain,” she whispers and Ace hates that he can feel her tears as she bites back a sob. “I thought you weren’t gonna get back up, dad.”

Ace swallows heavily, the guilt a solid weight in his chest as he wraps one arm around her, burying his hand in her hair as Marco sits quietly at his side, thigh pressed against his bicep, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to scare you, but Uncle Luffy needed my help and I had to make sure that Kaido paid for hurting you and everyone else here.”

“Still wasn’t nice,” Tama sniffs, refusing to move even when Ace pressed a kiss to the top of her head, cuddling closer. “I thought I was gonna lose you and that Mr. Marco would be sad again and leave us and Uncle Deuce would start drinking like that old man who’s really stupid on Saboady.”

“Uncle Deuce wouldn’t be anything like Rayleigh,” Ace mutters, feeling worse when he catches sight of Maroc’s face. “And Mr. Marco would have been okay.”

Marco looks away, his hand almost too tight around Ace’s, knuckles bleeding white, “I’ve lived through the loss of one captain, another one wouldn’t have killed me,” he shakes his head when Ace’s thumb slides over the back of his hand, slanting his gaze towards Tama. “We’ll talk about it later, Ace.”

“See, even Mr. Marco isn’t happy, dad,” Tama mutters, sighing as she wiggles as close as possible. “He would have been real sad.”

“I know,” Ace whispers, wishing he could sit up without undoing what little healing Marco’s done to his ribs, his whole body throbbing like a bruise as Marco brushes his hair back from his face. “Dad’s sorry, Tama. I’ll think things through better next time, how does that sound?”

“I don’t know. Mr. Marco?”

“I think that’s the best we’re going to get out of him,” Marco says softly, brushing a quick kiss against Ace’s cheek. “I think we could still be mad for a few more days. Make sure that Ace remembers for next time.”

Tama nods, patting Ace’s chest until Marco takes her hand, squeezing softly, “Mr. Marco can stay with me, that way dad has to sleep all alone and learn his lesson. I’ll share my teddy bears,” she adds, quieter than before. “Dad got them for me, they help me sleep.”

“I don’t think that we’ll both fit in your bed,” Marco states, smiling when Tama giggles. “But maybe we can talk Deuce into letting us stay in the medbay. We’ll make a pillow fort and sleep in there with the teddy bears. Your dad will be very jealous.”

“Yeah! And then when he learns his lesson, he can sleep there too,” Tama yawns, trying to sound serious. “But only if dad learns his lesson.”

Ace laughs, kissing Tama’s cheek repeatedly until she shrieks with laughter, still careful enough to avoid hitting his chest, “That’s not fair, you know that I love pillow forts.”

“Then don’t worry us, dad!”

“Yeah Ace, don’t worry us,” Marco says, eyes soft as he steals a kiss, barely pulling back before he adds. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Tama makes a disgusted sound, but she doesn’t move away, not even when Deuce drops down on Ace’s other side, looking exhausted. Ace makes a questioning sound, unable to see much over the top of Tama’s head and snorting when Deuce raises his hand enough to show Ace his middle finger. 

“You killed Uncle Deuce.”

“He’s fine, he’s just planning the lecture that I’m going to get for this,” Ace says softly, prodding Tama’s sides until she’s smiling again. He catches a glimpse of Luffy, surrounded by his own crew and allies, smiling brightly as he talks to them, before turning back to Tama, because Luffy was busy and he still hadn’t asked, “Were you hurt?”

Tama shakes her head, “Uncle Deuce didn’t let me help until Kaido was all locked up and Mr. Marco said that you would be real mad if I helped and got hurt. Which isn’t fair, cause you got hurt and I’m mad about that!”

“I’m your dad, I’m supposed to protect you,” Ace reminds her, ignoring Marco’s snickering. “When you’re strong enough to fight Uncle Deuce and win, we’ll talk about letting you help fight sometimes.”

“Deal,” Tama sighs, wiggling to get comfortable, closing her eyes. “Gonna take a nap now, don’t leave?”

“Never,” Ace promises, closing his eyes and breathing out heavily as Tama falls asleep in a matter of minutes, the stress of the day catching up to her. “I am sorry, Marco.”

Marco snorts, disbelieving, as his hand curves around Ace’s jaw, his mouth pressed into a firm line, “I know you are. I knew what this meant to you, Ace. I wasn’t going to tell you that I was worried or scared that you were going to die, even though I was terrified,” his thumb slides slowly over Ace’s cheek. “This is the first real fight you’ve had since I joined the Spades.”

“Next time, I’ll pick a fight with a punk rookie who’s trying to take my territory,” Ace promises, smiling into the kiss that Marco gives him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, even when I know you’re going to be the death of me.”

Ace laughs, groaning when it makes his ribs ache, “I’ll try not to be. Did we lose anyone in the fight?”

“Banshee's down most of an arm, but she’s coherent and complaining. Aggie is more worrying, I’m not sure if he’s going to make it through the night, got caught on the head,” Marco explains, looking tired. “Most of your crew was able to avoid anything too dangerous, but those two are the worse off,” he tips his head towards Luffy and his growing group of admirers. “Need to be part of that?”

“I don’t think so,” Ace admits, yawn breaking through his words as he closes his eyes. “Wanna take a nap and eat.”

Marco’s fingers card through his hair and Ace sighs, leaning into the touch, “Go to sleep, I’ll protect you, Ace.”

“Don’t need to be protected,” Ace mumbles, ignoring the snort of laughter from Deuce, who probably wasn’t asleep like Ace had hoped he was. “Thank you, Marco. Wake me up in a few hours?”

“As you wish.”

Ace sighs, ignoring the sound of Luffy’s crew growing louder, his eyes burning even now that they were closed, the aches from his injuries feeling worse for a brief moment. Marco would take care of anything until he or Deuce were able to take command of their crew, everything else could wait until later.

* * *

Standing in line is more uncomfortable than Ace thought it would be, watching Kozuki Momonosuke, followed distantly by his sister, stop in front of each member of the alliance that his retainers had seen fit to drag out, and thank them for their help. He wasn’t sure which part struck him as unsettling, that Momonosuke was a child or that his sister was not allowed to be the daimyo because she was a woman.

Ace startles from his thoughts when Tama tugs on his belt sharply, Momonosuke watching him curiously for a moment before he bows.

“Thank you for your help. It was most appreciated,” Momonosuke pauses, his mouth twisting for a moment before adding. “Gol D Roger.”

His stomach plummets, bile rising in his throat at odds with the ice curling down his spine as the silence linger for far too long. He can hear the starts of the whispers around him, Momonosuke still watching him like he expects something from Ace’s response.

“Dad’s name is Portgas D Ace,” Tama states, her tone biting as she clings to his belt, both of Ace’s hands bandaged tightly from his fight with Kaido. “Dad’s name is Ace and he is  _ not _ named Roger.”

“Oh,” Momonosuke says softly, glancing back at his sister and their retainers, none of whom look like they understand why he had called Ace Roger in the first place, “I just, I thought he was Gol D Roger. Ace looks like him.”

“I don’t think that anyone has ever mistaken me for my father,” Ace says softly, before he hears anyone else try to make a joke about appearances or laugh the name off. It’s too late to pretend it’s a case of mistaken identity, not when Ace knows if he doesn’t admit the truth, rumors of him being Roger will spread far and wide. “Most people don’t notice the resemblance.”

The silence that follows his answer is almost worse. Too many eyes on him, even as Momonosuke nods in understanding, looking like Ace’s answer isn’t the one he wants, moving on to the next person in line to thank them. It doesn’t help that Ace can’t blame him for it, not when Momonosuke is a child and didn’t know what had become of Roger in the years that had passed.

Tama tugs on Ace’s belt, stealing his attention back to her, frowning as she watches Momonosuke, “Can I bite him for making you sad? He was mean to you and you always say that you have to beat up mean people. I can’t punch really well yet, but Aunt Cornelia says that I bite well.”

“Thanks for offering, sweetheart, but I don’t think biting Momonosuke is going to be very helpful. Maybe next time,” Ace offers, smiling when Tama pouts up at him. “Love you.”

“Love you, dad.”

Marco snorts, leaning close to steal a kiss, even though Ace thought he would pull away, “Well, if Tama isn’t going to be beating people up, do you mind if she comes with me then? Banshee needs a new bandage on her head and Tama wants to learn how to clean out wounds.”

“I don’t see why not,” Ace mutters, grinning when he glances down at Tama. “What do you think, Tama? Wanna help Marco out?”

“Fine,” Tama sighs, dramatically, reluctant to let go of Ace’s belt and take Marco’s hand, but she does. Pulling a face when Marco kisses him again. “Mr. Marco.”

“One second, Tama,” Marco promises, smiling when Ace raises an eyebrow. “I love you, no matter who your parents are, Ace.”

“You’re a sap,” Ace whispers, swallowing the lump in his throat. “I love you too.”

Marco grins, taking a step back and offering Tama his hand back, “Shall we?”

“We shall,” Tama agrees imperiously, patting the bag that Deuce had given her months ago after she had complained loud and insistent that she should be allowed to help them, even if she couldn’t fight. ”I still wanna bite him, dad!”

“You’re not supposed to bite people!”

Tama sticks her tongue out at him, letting Marco tug her through the crowd to where Banshee had been forced to take a seat. The stump of her left arm was bandaged up tight, but Marco was quick to bypass that after leaving a layer of his flames to aid in it’s healing, showing Tama how to carefully undo the bandages on Banshee’s head. Even this far away, Ace is almost certain that Marco is going through the standard talk he had when he held basic first aid classes for the crew or one of their islands.

“Ace!” Luffy shouts, bounding over to him like both their crews, and the various others who had helped to remove Kaido and his men from power, weren’t watching Ace like they had never seen him before. Like the knowledge of his father’s name changed him into a monster. “Who’s that?”

“Who’s who?” Ace asks, pretending to misunderstand the question when Luffy pouts. “Her name’s Tama. She’s my daughter.”

Luffy grins, eyes wide and excited, “Ace has a baby?”

“She’s six, Luffy, I think she might try and bite me if I tried to call her a baby.”

“Tama,” Luffy says, ignoring everything Ace had said, like he was wont to do when it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Portgas D Tama is a good name!”

Ace laughs, “I don’t think that Tama’s interested in my last name, Luffy. She’s happy being Tama. I wouldn’t be upset if she wanted to be called Portgas D Tama, but it’s her choice to make,” he pauses, glancing over to where Marco is quietly explaining something new to her. “Do you think she’d like to use my last name?”

“Ace is dumb,” Luffy states, laughing when Ace punches him. “Mean! Ace is so mean to me!”

“I’m horrible to you. Just the absolute worst big brother ever.”

Luffy pulls a face, “Ace is the best big brother. I missed you.”

“I missed you too. You’ve been having fun, I saw. Deuce likes to keep me up to date when you show up in the paper for something,” he pauses, clearing his throat. “I was worried when you punched that Celestial Dragon and then went missing for two years.”

“We got beat up real bad by one of the War Lords,” Luffy says shaking his head tiredly. Ace knows that much, he also knows that Luffy somehow ended up credited with a prison break at Impel down around that time too. “We had to get stronger and Old Man Rayleigh was willing to show me some new tricks. He didn’t say anything about you.”

“Because the last time I saw him, I broke his nose,” Ace grins when Luffy’s eyes go wide in interest. “He might have said something about Roger never leaving his child to be treated poorly by the person raising them.”

“That’s stupid. Your dad was as stupid as my stupid dad,” Luffy mutters, rolling his eyes before he smiles again. “Do I get to meet Tama?”

“You’re really excited to get to meet her.”

“Tama is Ace’s baby,” Luffy states, like that is supposed to explain everything, and maybe it does for Luffy.

“She’s my daughter, please Luffy. She’s more than willing to bite people when they’re annoying or they upset her. And I think she might be able to hurt you, even if you are made of rubber,” Ace sighs, ignoring the look of interest on Luffy’s face. “She’s got a Devil’s Fruit too, you know. Something to do with mochi.”

Luffy frowns, looking confused, “But Big Mom’s kid had mochi?”

“Apparently there’s more than one mochi fruit,” Ace says shrugging, because he doesn’t understand Devil’s Fruit, even though he has one himself. “I don’t particularly like her having this one, but we train her with it. Why, did you think that she was one of Big Mom’s too?”

“Nope!” Luffy says brightly, the same way he used to when they were younger and Luffy was lying through his teeth and trying to pretend that he wasn’t. “Tama’s little, does she sail with you when you go?”

Ace nods, knowing why Luffy’s asking, “She’s my daughter. I couldn’t just leave her here in Wano, not when Kaido was starving them and both of her parents were dead. Deuce, my first mate, and I had a very long talk about it before we offered her a place. Deuce only agreed because I promised not to go after Whitebeard.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Would be bad if you died after getting a baby,” Luffy agrees, nodding in understanding. “You took over all of Old Man Whitenose’s stuff when he died.”

“They were suffering,” Ace mutters, ignoring the look on Luffy’s face as best he could. It was the same one that Luffy always had when he thought that Ace was doing something because he was nice. “Besides, I didn’t exactly have anything else to do and Yonko are supposed to claim territories.”

“If you say so,” Luffy says, picking his nose distractedly. “Can I meet Tama? Or is she busy?”

“Marco thinks that everyone needs to know basic first aid, even Tama,” Ace explains, smiling softly as Marco ruffles Tama’s hair, whispering something to her. Praising her for something, Ace knows, because her cheeks always turn red when someone praises her. “She likes to learn, but I think we might be able to pull her away for a bit. Marco!”

Marco raises an eyebrow, deftly rolling up the bandage in his hands and giving it to Tama for her bag, “Captain?”

“Can I borrow Tama for a few minutes? There’s someone I would like to introduce her to.”

“Go see your dad before he starts to think we’re conspiring,” Marco says, pretending to whisper, even as he meets Ace’s eyes over Tama’s shoulder. “You have to pretend to let the captain think he’s the one incharge, even when he isn’t. I’m sure you want to meet your uncle now, anyway.”

Tama giggles, bouncing as she hurries to Ace’s side, quickly turning shy as she buries her face into his thigh, barely peeking up at Luffy, “Dad.”

“Hey sweetheart,” Ace whispers, grinning when Luffy bounces on his toes, impatient as ever. “Tama, meet your Uncle Luffy. Luffy, this is Tama.”

“Hi,” Tama mutters, barely wiggling her fingers in a nervous wave.

Luffy grins, squatting down to be closer to her, “Hi Tama. Ace didn’t tell me that he had you before this, but it’s real nice to meet you,” he pauses and Ace hopes that Luffy doesn’t accidently say the wrong thing and upset her. “I’ve never been an uncle before, but I had the best teacher to be a big brother. Maybe they’re kind of the same.”

“Dad’s the best,” Tama says smiling when she turns her head enough to see Luffy. “I think you’ll be a real good uncle. Dad said you were the best little brother.”

“Thank you. Do you want to meet my crew?” Luffy asks hopefully. “They’re really nice.”

“Can I?” Tama asks hopefully, tugging on Ace’s belt as she bounces in place. “Please, dad?”

Ace sighs, both of them looking so hopeful as they wait impatiently for his answer, “Fine, fine. But I don’t want to hear about any of your men hurting her, Luffy.”

“Promise,” Luffy says, lifting Tama up under her arms. “Come on, we’ll meet Robin first, she’s real cool! She gets called lots of mean names, like your dad.”

“Is he always that energetic,” Deuce mutters, smirking when Ace startles at his sudden appearance. “He’s worse than you are when you’re interested in something.”

“Luffy has more energy than Tama does. I wouldn’t doubt that she’s going to come back at the end of the day and be so tired that she passes out before reaching her room,” Ace admits, shaking his head tiredly. “How did the crew react?”

Deuce shrugs, “Kotatsu doesn’t care about shit, he’s a cat, and most of the crew has made comments about you being you. That it’s not your fault who your parents are. There’s only two of them who made less than stellar comments, the new duo we picked up two stops ago. Easy enough to get rid of.”

“Keep Tama away from them, I don’t trust them to keep their comments limited to me and Marco, at least, can hold his own. Tama’s too young for that. Keep me up to date.”

“Of course, captain.”

Ace rolls his eyes, elbowing Deuce sharply in the ribs, watching Luffy thrusting Tama at various members of his crew and at least a few of another crew, unless Ace had missed his guess. That was fine, there was plenty of time for Tama to meet everyone that Luffy wanted to introduce her to, and he could at least trust his brother to keep her safe.


End file.
